﻿/*
 * Copyright (c) 2015-2016 Constantijn Evenhuis (blueprints@const.nl)
 * 
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 * 
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
 * copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 * 
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
 * SOFTWARE.
 */
namespace Blueprints.Resolution
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Converts a type to and from a string.
    /// </summary>
    public interface IValueDescriptor : ITypeDescriptor
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Converts <paramref name="instance"/> to its string representation.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="instance">The instance to convert.</param>
        /// <returns>The string representation of <paramref name="instance"/>.</returns>
        string ConvertToString(object instance);

        /// <summary>
        /// Converts <paramref name="value"/> from its string representation.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="value">The string representation of the object instance to create.</param>
        /// <returns>The created object instance.</returns>
        object ConvertFromString(string value);

        /// <summary>
        /// Indicates whether <paramref name="value"/> can be converted to the correct type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="value">The string representation of the object instance to create.</param>
        /// <returns>True if the value can be converted, false otherwise.</returns>
        bool CanConvertFromString(string value);
    }
}